Jeremy Paxman grills Jeremy Corbyn on difference between Labour manifesto and personal views and it backfires

‘I’m not a dictator’

Jeremy Paxman is known for a tough grilling, but his determination to prove there was a difference between Jeremy Corbyn’s personal views and those in the Labour manifesto appears to have backfired.

Mr Paxman repeatedly pushed Mr Corbyn on why his party’s manifesto contained more moderate policies than those Mr Corbyn might have personally wanted.

“Are you frustrated that so many of your core ideas, your basic principles, did not make it into this manifesto?” Mr Paxman asked.

“I’m not a dictator who writes things to tell people what to do,” was the Labour leader’s response during the Sky News and Channel 4 debate.

“This is a product of a process in our party. That’s why I was elected leader of our party: to give a voice to our members and those affiliated to our party.”

Mr Corbyn accused Mr Paxman of not understanding the process as to how a party manifesto was produced.

Specifically, Mr Paxman pushed him on the manifesto’s promise to renew trident, and Mr Corbyn replied that the decision was made at the party conference.

He said he wanted to deliver a “nuclear-free world” and the party would work through the Treaty of the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Mr Corbyn was also questioned on why the abolition of the monarchy was not in the manifesto, nor was the nationalisation of retail banks. Mr Corbyn replied that some banks were already public and that the Queen was "not on his agenda".

The response on social media to Mr Paxman’s line of questioning was bemused, with some pointing out the host was pressing for a weakness in the Labour leader which could prove to be a strength, or at least gave Mr Corbyn the chance to present it as such.

ITV political editor Robert Peston tweeted, “But I am not sure why in general Paxman wants to prove that Labour has successfully moderated Corbyn's views. Is that bad for @jeremycorbyn?”

John Rentoul, The Independent’s chief political commentator, wrote that Mr Paxman’s “clever-clever” questioning was a “failure”.

“It allowed Corbyn to pose as a consensual pragmatist who listened to his colleagues and worked with them, when in fact 172 of them said they had no confidence him less than a year ago,” he said.

Many people praised Mr Corbyn’s “humour” and “calmness” under Mr Paxman’s grilling.

The Conservatives’ lead over Labour has diminished in recent weeks, following U-turns on social care, pensions, the snap election, fox hunting and national insurance increases.

The Tories still boast a significant lead for the election on 8 June.